13 celebrities you didn't know were Irish

Thanks to the popularity of St. Patrick's Day, almost everyone claims to have a bit of Irish luck in 'em, celebrities included. You likely already know that Liam Neeson, Niall Horan, and Bono were from the Emerald Isle, but there are few Irish stars that would surprise just about anyone.

These may seem far-fetched, but each of these actors, singers, and politicians claim to hail from the land of luck and Guinness. Some even have the DNA tests and ancestry charts to prove it.

Here are 13 celebrities that you didn't know were Irish.

1/

Jamie Dornan has made a name for himself thanks to his roles in the "Fifty Shades" movies and ABC's "Once Upon a Time."

Jamie Dornan.
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In both of those roles, Dornan hid behind an American accent, but the actor was actually born in Belfast and has a full-blown Irish accent (which you can hear in some of his roles, like in "The Fall.")

Aside from filming, the only time he uses his American is when he's ordering fast food. Apparently things can get mixed up when you're Irish and talking into a fuzzy speaker.

If there's one thing he wants you to know about Ireland, it's that the cliches aren't true.

"We don't say things like 'top of the morning to ya.' That's not a thing," he told Conan O'Brien. "Maybe in some tiny villages in the West of Ireland."

2/

Christina Aguilera might be better known for her Ecuadorian roots, but her mother is Irish.

Christina Aguilera.
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While Aguilera's Latin roots gets most of the attention, but that's not her only ancestral homeland. Her mother is Irish-American and says that Christina has embraced that side of herself, too.

"A lot of people get all in a fuss about Christina wanting to explore her Latin side and not mentioning her Irish side much, but that's only logical," her mother, Shelly Kearns, told Irish America magazine. "She has no need to go exploring her Irish heritage because she has always known it."

3/

Despite his notably terrible accent in "Far and Away," Tom Cruise is actually of Irish descent.

He said he loved Ireland and was thrilled about his new found family history.

"It was incredible. As a gift, they went and researched my family. It was an amazing story. These two wonderful women did this as a gift for me," he told Jimmy Kimmel in an interview. "They gave me a [certificate] saying this and traced my family back to the ninth century. I had no idea it went back that far."

4/

Actress and model Emily Ratajkowski calls Cork home.

Emily Ratajkowski.
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She hit international fame for her racy (and regrettable) work in Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" video back in 2013, and again when she was cast in "Gone Girl."

While many would place her from a far off land thanks to her last name, Ratajkowski is actually from Ireland.

"I absolutely love Ireland. It's one of the most beautiful places on earth and I have strong ties here," she said while speaking to the Independent. "Both my grandmothers are from Ireland and I have spent every summer in Bantry since my father, who is an artist, had the romantic idea 20 years ago to buy an old farmhouse on the west coast and renovate it."

"I go back any time I get the opportunity and I have many friends who I still hang out with in the local pubs," she went on. "I have great childhood memories cow-tipping, going off and getting lost in the bog for hours and coming home covered in dirt."

5/

Mariah Carey's mother, Patricia Hickey, was born to Irish parents.

Mariah Carey.
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The singer has been very open about her heritage in the past. In 2009, she opened up specifically about the struggles of being both black and Irish.

"White people have a difficult time with (mixed race). It's like, my mother's white — she's so Irish, she loves Ireland, she's like, yay, Ireland! Waving the flag and singing 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.' And that's great. I appreciate that and respect it," Carey said during an interview with The Guardian.

"There's a whole other side of me that makes me who I am and makes people uncomfortable," she continued. "My father identified as a black man. No one asked him because he was clearly black. But people always ask me. If we were together, people would look at us in a really strange way. As a little girl I had blond hair and they'd look at me, look at him, and be disgusted."

6/

Barack Obama's great-great-granddad hailed from Ireland in 1850.

In 2007, then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama found out that he was part Irish. It turns out, his great-great-grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, traveled from Ireland to Liverpool, and then across the pond to America in 1850.

Alicia Keys is also a little bit Irish.

"Actually I'm not Latina, even though I would love to be and many people do think I am," she told Star Tribune back in a 2008 interview. "A lot of people believe I'm part Jamaican, though I'm not. I'm definitely black and Italian and a little Irish or Scottish. Being of mixed background influences everything in my life and music."

12/

Despite her very Italian last name, Gwen Stefani also has some Irish blood coursing through her veins.

Gwen Stefani.
Charley Gallay/Getty Images for People's Choice Awards

Her dad is Italian, which is where her name comes from, but on her mother's side it's all Irish and Scottish, which probably explains why she grew up as "a Catholic good girl."

"I grew up, like, a Catholic good girl. Total 'Brady Bunch' family," she said to Vogue while discussing her family and upbringing. "That always kind of scared me, the pressure of having to be so cool or like, f--- you to the world."

13/

Rosario Dawson says she's "more Irish than anything."

Rosario Dawson.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

She tweeted back in 2011 letting everyone know her roots, saying she was "more Irish than anything":

Despite not growing up with her biological father, she is still interested in their shared homeland and has been there three times.

"My biological father is Irish and I don't know, I never got to know him but for me it was always one of the reasons I came [to Ireland] years ago and have come again," she said during an interview while visiting the country.